Jos Joshua, chapter Book of Joshua, chapter 24
Joshua Reviews Israel’s History
Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges, and officers of Israel, and they presented themselves before God.Jos 23:2; 1Ki 12:1; 2Ch 10:1
And Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your fathers, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates24:2 Hebrew the River; also in verses 3, 14, and 15 and worshiped other gods. Gen 11:26But I took your father Abraham from beyond the Euphrates and led him through all the land of Canaan, and I multiplied his descendants. I gave him Isaac, Gen 11:31; Gen 21:2and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I gave Esau Mount Seir to possess, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.Gen 25:26; Gen 36:8; Gen 46:6
Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and afterward I brought you out. Exo 3:10When I brought your fathers out of Egypt and you reached the Red Sea,24:6 Or the Sea of Reeds the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemen as far as the Red Sea. Exo 12:37; Exo 14:9So your fathers cried out to the LORD, and He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, over whom He brought the sea and engulfed them. Your very eyes saw what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time.
Later, I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived beyond the Jordan. They fought against you, but I delivered them into your hand, that you should possess their land when I destroyed them before you. Num 21:25Then Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, set out to fight against Israel. He sent for Balaam son of Beor to curse you, Num 22:5but I would not listen to Balaam. So he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you from his hand.
After this, you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The people of Jericho fought against you, as did the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I delivered them into your hand. Jos 6:2; Jos 11:3; Exo 23:23I sent the hornet ahead of you, and it drove out the two Amorite kings before you, but not by your own sword or bow. Exo 23:28; Deu 7:20; Jos 11:20So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities that you did not build, and now you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’Deu 6:10
Choose Whom You Will Serve
Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; cast aside the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. Exo 20:2; Lev 26:1; Ezk 23:3But if it is unpleasing in your sight to serve the LORD, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!”1Ki 18:21; Luk 11:23
The people replied, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods! For the LORD our God brought us and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and performed these great signs before our eyes. He also protected us throughout our journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. And the LORD drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites who lived in the land. We too will serve the LORD, because He is our God!”
But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD, for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your rebellion or your sins. Deu 4:24; Heb 12:29If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, He will turn and bring disaster on you and consume you, even after He has been good to you.”Deu 29:25; Jos 23:15
“No!” replied the people. “We will serve the LORD!”
Then Joshua told them, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD.”
“We are witnesses!” they said.
“Now, therefore,” he said, “get rid of the foreign gods among you and incline your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.”Gen 35:2; 1Sa 7:3
So the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God and obey His voice.”Jer 42:6
On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he established for them a statute and ordinance. Deu 29:14; 2Ki 23:3Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak24:26 Or terebinth that was near the sanctuary of the LORD. Jdg 9:6And Joshua said to all the people, “You see this stone. It will be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words the LORD has spoken to us, and it will be a witness against you if you ever deny your God.”Gen 31:48; Jos 22:27; Isa 19:20
Then Joshua sent the people away, each to his own inheritance.Jdg 2:6
Joshua’s Death and Burial
Some time later, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110. Deu 34:5; Jdg 2:8; Gen 50:26And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath-serah24:30 Timnath-serah is also known as Timnath-heres; see Judges 2:9. in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. Jos 19:50; Jdg 2:9Israel had served the LORD throughout the days of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced all the works that the LORD had done for Israel.
And the bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought up out of Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the plot of land that Jacob had purchased from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of silver.24:32 Hebrew a hundred kesitahs; the value or weight of the kesitah is no longer known. So it became an inheritance for Joseph’s descendants.Gen 23:16; Gen 50:25; Act 7:16
Eleazar son of Aaron also died, and they buried him at Gibeah, which had been given to his son Phinehas in the hill country of Ephraim.